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Fatboy Slim invests in ‘The National Trust for Music Venues’ purchasing “lifeblood” space The Pipeline in Brighton: “Rooms like this are where dreams come true”
Fatboy Slim (real name Norman Cook) has helped fund the purchase of The Pipeline, a DIY punk venue in Brighton, through Music Venue Properties (MVP), a scheme dubbed the "National Trust for Music Venues." The venue, where Cook performed in June, becomes the tenth to be brought under community ownership by the campaign, which buys small grassroots venues to secure their long-term future. Cook said such spaces are "the lifeblood of the music industry" and that MVP acts as a "benevolent landlord" that avoids raising rents and offers security to struggling venues.
MVP's investors include figures such as Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and previous venues saved by the scheme include The Snug in Atherton (the first, in October 2023), The Ferret in Preston, The Bunkhouse in Swansea, Le Pub in Newport, The Booking Hall in Dover, The Joiners in Southampton, The Croft in Bristol, Northern Guitars in Leeds and Gut Level in Sheffield. The news comes alongside wider government support for the sector: Burnham announced a 20 per cent tax cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England, expected to save the average pub around £1,100 next year, alongside a separate £45million "Music Plan" investment and the ongoing £1 ticket levy on major arena shows that funds grassroots venues.
In short
- Fatboy Slim helps fund purchase of Brighton's The Pipeline via Music Venue Properties
- It's the 10th venue saved by the community-ownership scheme
- Comes as Andy Burnham unveils tax cuts and funding for live music venues
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Grassroots music venues face existential threat from property cost pressures that far exceed their commercial viability, yet they are essential to cultural life and to developing talent that benefits the entire music industry. The Music Venue Properties scheme's community ownership model, combined with government support including tax relief and targeted funding, addresses this genuine market failure with a practical solution proven to work: ten venues already secured with broad political backing. This represents appropriate investment in cultural infrastructure with both intrinsic value and systemic importance to the music economy.
The case against
Whilst grassroots venues are culturally important, there are legitimate questions about whether selective subsidies and investment schemes effectively address the underlying systemic issues of property markets and urban affordability that affect far more than just music venues. Critics contend that MVP's model, however well-intentioned, may not realistically scale to save hundreds of struggling venues across the country, and that public and private capital might achieve greater social benefit by addressing root causes through planning reform and housing policy that benefit entire communities. There is also a principled case that government should not pick economic winners by subsidising particular sector types.
Explained simply
Small independent music venues are closing across Britain, threatened by rising rents, staffing costs, and declining audiences. These grassroots spaces matter because they are where emerging artists typically perform early in their careers, testing new material and building a following before potentially achieving wider success.
Music Venue Properties (MVP) is a scheme that buys threatened venues and converts them to community ownership. Once bought, the venues operate as community assets rather than profit-driven businesses, protecting them from rent increases and other commercial pressures that would otherwise force them to close.
The scheme has successfully protected several venues across England so far, and has attracted backing from figures in music and politics who view these spaces as vital to both the music industry and local communities. MVP essentially acts as a long-term landlord committed to keeping the venues open rather than pursuing maximum profit.
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